Review by pcmuray -- Timewise by Robert Leet
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Review by pcmuray -- Timewise by Robert Leet
[Following is a volunteer review of "Timewise" by Robert Leet.]
23 November 2020
Leet, Robert. Timewise (Mesa, AZ: Porter Field Publishing, 2017). Kindle edition
Timewise is the first novel of Robert Leet. It is a page-turning, highly readable science fiction adventure that combines Newtonian physics, Einstein’s Relativity Theory, fractals, and quantum mechanics in a fast-paced novel. The story-line follows the happenings to its main character named Ron Larsen, an orphan with a gift for mathematics as demonstrated by his above-level ability in chess and poker. His orphaned background has left him without a sense of who he is as well as a sense of developing his native abilities and grow as a person. The background is a small city in Western Massachusetts where the author Robert Leet lives as evidenced by Ron’s air flights from Bradley International Airport which is halfway between Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT. The structure of the plot revolves around the people who come into and influence Ron’s life. Their appearance exhibits a chiastic literary structure whereby the cast of characters appears in their more or less opposite order in the second half of the novel (i.e. Regina Russo-Cheryl Liona-Tom-Louis/Louise-Sheila Pak //Jack DeVries // and then Regina Russo-Cheryl Liona-Tom-Louise-Sheila Pak). This structure concentrates emphasis on the plot’s central element which is Regina’s hope to construct a time machine, not for time travel, but just far head enough in the future to make money from the stock market.
Many of the meetings that Ron has with the other characters appear almost as dei ex machina, or accidental, encounters. The characters that he meets in order in the first half of the book all contribute to Ron’s growing self-understanding. Regina Russo challenges Ron to deepen his understanding of physics and by extension his mathematical abilities. Tom, an indolent roommate whom the main character meets later on as Assistant Building Inspector in Foxfield, confirms the surprisingly accidental beneficial nature of personal encounters (like Ron’s) as Tom has gone from a potential major league baseball player whose arm injury made that dream impossible to making some money with Ron’s stock market mathematical genius to gaining a well-paying position at a major company. Louis/Louise whom Ron meets as a homeless character at Northern University while Ron is a student there introduces Ron to transgender issues; they re-unite when Ron meets Louise while she is spelunking underneath the 19th Century business canals in the area and becomes a successful used furniture store owner. Sheila Pak whom Ron had met while a doctoral student at the University of Washington in Seattle convinces Rom he could make much more money using his fractals formula on the stock market on Wall Street than as a tenured professor anywhere. Regina Russo tempts Ron back to Foxfield to assist her by combining both their strengths – Regina has Ron using his fractals formula with her time machine to identify when a stock market trade in the future would make the most money; this time machine does not look decades or centuries but only seconds to minutes in the future; nevertheless, it makes them a comfortable living. Throughout Regina’s life, an FBI Special Agent named Jack DeVries has tracked Regina as a possible terrorist suspect. Ultimately, he gets his own come-uppance from Regina’s time machine.
Mr. Leet includes brief, but popularized, technical explanations of the various scientific and mathematical formulae under discussion at appropriate places in the novel. In an interview about Timewise, he said that his novel is aimed at an audience that was or could be conversant with such theories. Each character is drawn differently; while all the novel’s female characters are strong having experienced various reverses in life, his main protagonist Regina Russo is especially well drawn. Dialogue among the various characters also appears natural, albeit a bit too close to New England speech patterns. The plot’s chiastic structure underscores the author’s engineering background. With few flaws for a first novel, Timewise is a highly recommended read for a first novel. One anxiously awaits the author’s next novel.
Three out of four stars (***)
Sincerely yours,
Pius Charles Murray
******
Timewise
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
23 November 2020
Leet, Robert. Timewise (Mesa, AZ: Porter Field Publishing, 2017). Kindle edition
Timewise is the first novel of Robert Leet. It is a page-turning, highly readable science fiction adventure that combines Newtonian physics, Einstein’s Relativity Theory, fractals, and quantum mechanics in a fast-paced novel. The story-line follows the happenings to its main character named Ron Larsen, an orphan with a gift for mathematics as demonstrated by his above-level ability in chess and poker. His orphaned background has left him without a sense of who he is as well as a sense of developing his native abilities and grow as a person. The background is a small city in Western Massachusetts where the author Robert Leet lives as evidenced by Ron’s air flights from Bradley International Airport which is halfway between Springfield, MA and Hartford, CT. The structure of the plot revolves around the people who come into and influence Ron’s life. Their appearance exhibits a chiastic literary structure whereby the cast of characters appears in their more or less opposite order in the second half of the novel (i.e. Regina Russo-Cheryl Liona-Tom-Louis/Louise-Sheila Pak //Jack DeVries // and then Regina Russo-Cheryl Liona-Tom-Louise-Sheila Pak). This structure concentrates emphasis on the plot’s central element which is Regina’s hope to construct a time machine, not for time travel, but just far head enough in the future to make money from the stock market.
Many of the meetings that Ron has with the other characters appear almost as dei ex machina, or accidental, encounters. The characters that he meets in order in the first half of the book all contribute to Ron’s growing self-understanding. Regina Russo challenges Ron to deepen his understanding of physics and by extension his mathematical abilities. Tom, an indolent roommate whom the main character meets later on as Assistant Building Inspector in Foxfield, confirms the surprisingly accidental beneficial nature of personal encounters (like Ron’s) as Tom has gone from a potential major league baseball player whose arm injury made that dream impossible to making some money with Ron’s stock market mathematical genius to gaining a well-paying position at a major company. Louis/Louise whom Ron meets as a homeless character at Northern University while Ron is a student there introduces Ron to transgender issues; they re-unite when Ron meets Louise while she is spelunking underneath the 19th Century business canals in the area and becomes a successful used furniture store owner. Sheila Pak whom Ron had met while a doctoral student at the University of Washington in Seattle convinces Rom he could make much more money using his fractals formula on the stock market on Wall Street than as a tenured professor anywhere. Regina Russo tempts Ron back to Foxfield to assist her by combining both their strengths – Regina has Ron using his fractals formula with her time machine to identify when a stock market trade in the future would make the most money; this time machine does not look decades or centuries but only seconds to minutes in the future; nevertheless, it makes them a comfortable living. Throughout Regina’s life, an FBI Special Agent named Jack DeVries has tracked Regina as a possible terrorist suspect. Ultimately, he gets his own come-uppance from Regina’s time machine.
Mr. Leet includes brief, but popularized, technical explanations of the various scientific and mathematical formulae under discussion at appropriate places in the novel. In an interview about Timewise, he said that his novel is aimed at an audience that was or could be conversant with such theories. Each character is drawn differently; while all the novel’s female characters are strong having experienced various reverses in life, his main protagonist Regina Russo is especially well drawn. Dialogue among the various characters also appears natural, albeit a bit too close to New England speech patterns. The plot’s chiastic structure underscores the author’s engineering background. With few flaws for a first novel, Timewise is a highly recommended read for a first novel. One anxiously awaits the author’s next novel.
Three out of four stars (***)
Sincerely yours,
Pius Charles Murray
******
Timewise
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Timewise by Robert Leet
